In the 12-year period of 2005 through 2016, canines killed 392 Americans. Pit bulls contributed to 65% (254) of these deaths. Combined, pit bulls and rottweilers contributed to 76% of the total recorded deaths. | More »

Monday, February 11, 2008

Funeral Director Cited After Pit Bull Snaps at Child
Danville, IL – A funeral home director is disputing a complaint that his pet pit bull became aggressive toward a toddler inside the funeral home. Bob Pape, owner of Pape Memorial Home & Gardens received a citation for violating Danville's dangerous dog ordinance. A 2-year-old boy was at the funeral home on Jan. 27 to attend a visitation for his grandfather, when the pit bull snapped at the toddler.

JoAnn Adams, the local Humane Society Directory, said Pape's dog was declared dangerous following an incident outside the funeral home in January 2007. All dogs that have been declared dangerous are required to be muzzled and leashed when they are outside of their homes. If Pape is found guilty or pleads guilty, he could be fined between $300 and $1,500 and ordered to pay court costs.

Pape admits the 3-year-old dog, named Blue, was not muzzled but he insisted the dog was leashed and denies the dog became aggressive with the boy or anyone else. Pape said the dog belongs to his son, Roby Pape, who has away at college, and has come to work with him every day for the past three years.

Pape disputes the first citation, which resulted in the dog being declared dangerous. He claims that his dog was attacked on his own property as he and the dog were getting out of his van. He claims that a boxer broke free from its owner and attacked his dog. But Pape was found guilty of letting his dog run loose and was fined $100. Pape signed a document declaring his dog dangerous and outlining the rules by which he would have to abide, including keeping the dog in a fully enclosed pen, on a run line and muzzled and leashed when it's outside its home.

While Adams is aware of only those two incidents, she said she has received several complaints from people. "They've said they've been there and the dog is roaming around," she said. "I've had to tell them that I'm not familiar with the funeral home regulations."

"Why would you have a dog at the funeral home in the first place?

There is no state rule governing the situation.

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7 comments:

Dog Lover | 2/12/2008 12:36 PM | FlagWhat, in God's name, is wrong with pit bull owners? Why would you have a dog roaming around a funeral home during services? At a very minimum, isn't that enormously disrespectful of the deceased and their families? What if a grieving family member was afraid of dogs, are they expected to simply leave?

I'm surprised a member of the clergy hasn't spoken up.... I think I know a few priests and ministers who would have told the funeral director to get the dog out of there before performing a service.

Is this a very small town? Is this the only funeral home in town? If this was happening in my town, the local clergy, along with families of the deceased, would have set the funeral director straight. For the record, I live in the Northeast, not the Bible belt, but this story blows my mind.

Anonymous | 2/12/2008 12:55 PM | FlagWhile Adams is aware of only those two incidents, she said she has received several complaints from people. "They've said they've been there and the dog is roaming around," she said. "I've had to tell them that I'm not familiar with the funeral home regulations."

Another ethereal animal welfare community professional who shouldn't be in a trusted positiondealing with public safety.

Dog Lover | 2/12/2008 2:34 PM | FlagWell, as far as animal control personnel go...perhaps if you live in a major metropolitan area, you will have trained professionals working in AC. In many municipalities, the AC job is one of the last, old-time patronage jobs left to dole out. It's still viewed as the "dog-catcher" in many towns, and is often give to someone in City Hall's loser brother-in-law who couldn't find a job otherwise. Our former AC person was not even a certified vet tech; I also know someone who was offered the job when that person left, because they were a "friend of a friend" of someone at City Hall; the person turned it down, mainly because she had absolutely no real experience with animals.

Keep this in mind when you read these brilliant quotes from animal control personnel....quite often they have no real training or expertise in animal behavior or animal welfare laws.

what a liar. have pit bull owners completely lost the ability to tell the truth? obviously, the dog doesn't just sit in his office all day, if there have complaints about it roaming the funeral home. i am sure there is more to the first incident with boxer too. the boxer no doubt taunted the pit bull.

Dog Lover | 2/12/2008 5:20 PM | FlagSchultz, several years ago I had a neighbor's off leash pit bull come after my two year old, while I was walking down the street to visit a friend. I was eight months pregnant at the time. The college student who owned the dog sat on her front porch watching, smirking, while I yelled for her to call her dog. She wouldn't.

The dog was rigid, hackling, it's huge muscular jaws about two feet away from my son's face. I held his hand tightly, and put him behind me, blocking the dog with my body. I told him to be very still and not look at the dog. I yelled as loud as I could for the owner to call the dog off. My heart was pounding, as I tried to calculate how fast I could turn and lift my son up to get his face and throat away from the dog, while protecting my unborn child, somehow, with my arms.

Finally, the dog owner, still smirking, walked across the street slowly and called the dog, who came reluctantly. She still would not leash it. I suspect she realized a neighbor would hear me screaming and call the police.

I have owned dogs all my life, and have a lot of "dog people" who are friends. I have friends who do confirmation, herding, obedience, etc. I have friends who are members of rescue groups, etc. I love reading about dogs, talking about dogs, have done some basic obedience, and hope to eventually to do more advanced training and competition. In other words, I am not an idiot, and understand quite a bit about dog behavior...and I know, without a doubt, that if my son that day had not listened to me, had panicked and screamed and made any sudden movement, he would most likely have been killed, or seriously maimed. Had the dog come running up to us with a friendly, relaxed, posture and a wagging tail, I would have been on my knees pettig it, regardless of breed. I really love dogs, and have NO fear at all of any particular breed. But pit bulls and their owners seem to be in a class all by themselves.

The punch line of this story? When I reported the incident to AC, teh repsonse was..."Well, I didn't see it, so I can't really do anything about it...."

Packhorse | 7/29/2011 2:53 PM | Flag"Why would you have a dog at the funeral home in the first place?"

...more business!

Jenny R. | 6/08/2014 11:17 PM | FlagA declared vicious dog freely "policing" the funeral home when it could cost the proprietor his business (and therefore sustenance/lifestyle of which he's accustomed...) and he KNOWS it... It makes no sense whatsoever to risk it all.... Unless the "all" is not all... Funeral home would be a great way to obscure a large meth lab or some such...